THE PICTURE OF CONTENTMENT!!
Namaste Yogis
This week we will are looking at Santosha and the ability to find contentment …. no matter what life sends our way.
It is very easy to feel contented when everything is going well for us, for example, when we have a good job that we enjoy, a loving and supportive family and good friends. However feeling contented when we have no job, have lost a family member and have difficulty finding friends can be more challenging. So how can we feel contented in these circumstances?
We can learn contentment at all times by connecting to an underlying feeling of acceptance – acceptance of whatever comes our way no matter what it is – even if it does make us feel unhappy. Santosha is the choice to be happy no matter what the circumstances are because we know and accept that things could not be any other way. In other words it is an acceptance that the only thing that could happen did happen … there are no “what ifs” or “if only’s”
We could say that by doing this we feel we have no control over our lives ….. however we can turn this on its head and realise that we have full control over our lives because we can control how we react to everything that occurs to us… bad weather, losing our job, a pet, our holiday being cancelled ……In order to experience true contentment we have to have faith in the outcome of our lives and the fact that whatever happens to us is exactly as it is meant to be.
What is important though is not to suppress feelings of disappointment, deep sadness and anger etc – these feelings are natural and should be experienced in order to allow ourselves to grow. We are not victims of our thoughts, feelings, emotions but we are in control of them …and yoga teaches us this and how to find true contentment.
When we have realised our true strength and power in this way we will find steadiness of mind and true contentment……Remember, however, that this is a lifetime journey and practice and does not happen overnight.
“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be” Wayne W Dyer
